Friday, June 17, 2005

Live up to what you know...

I often get down on myself. I often get mad that I am not the perfect Christian. After all, I am saved by God's grace. I am a son of the KING. But the accuser all too often reminds me of my foibles and faults, and I think more about that than I do my great Savior. I often forget that it is my Savior who is perfect, not me.

Today I was reading in Philippians 3. In verse 16 I read something that eases my burden of not being perfect. Paul says: "In any case, we should live up to whatever [truth] we have attained." (HCSB) This passage helps me to understand that I should be growing in faith, but that God understands that I don't know it all. He only expects me to live up to what I know about. Though He does expect me to continue to grow to maturity in Christ, he only expects me to live out what He has shown me so far.

So, be as mature as you know to be, and God will show you what He wants you to know. And don't think that God is going to club you for messing something up you didn't know about. He is a mighty and wonderful God full of grace and mercy. What a great God!

Oh Lord, Our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth!

3 comments:

dashadra said...

Isnt it wonderful to know that when the Father looks at us, He sees the Son because the Son has paid in full all that we owe. We all have our faults and we all mess up, over and over and over. My prayer is that we learn from the mess ups and then can be used by the LORD in order to help others overcome the same things that we struggled with.

Ginny said...

I think it's condition vs. position, Chris. Our condition is that we're still human and still struggle very much with a sinful nature. But our position is before the THRONE, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It doesn't get much better.

Thomas Winborn said...

Thanks for the encouragement today Chris. I needed that.